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DEATH OF ZACHARY TAYLOR. 



JOHN M. KREBS, I) . 1) 



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DEATH OF ZACHARY TAYLOR, 



TWELFTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DILITIBJD IN THB 



RUTGERS' STREET CHURCH, 



ON SABBATH EVENING , JULY 14, 1850. 



BY 



JOHN M. KREBS, D.D. 



NEW YORK : 
JOHN WESTALL, PRINTER, 11 SPRUCE STREET, 
1850. 



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Of 



DISCOURSE. 



PSALM LXII. 11, 12. 

C.OD HATH SPOKEN ONCE ; TWICE HAVE I HEARD THIS, THAT 

POWER BELONGETH UNTO GOD. ALSO, UNTO TIiEK, O LORD, 

BELONGETH MERCY ; FOR THOU RENDEREST TO EVERY MAN 
ACCORDING TO HIS WORK. 

There is a strong natural propensity in the 
human heart to attempt independence of God. 
It is practically exhibited, both by individuals 
and by nations, in the various forms of ignor- 
ing, evading, perverting, and openly transgress- 
ing and defying the Divine Will ; — in cherish- 
ing a spirit of inordinate self-reliance ; — and 
in utter forgetfulness of both the obligation and 
the safety of trusting solely in God, and of serv- 
ing, glorifying, and enjoying Him. 

It is true, indeed, that there is, at some times, 
a kind of formal acknowledgment of some 
sort of subordination and dependence on His 
throne. But if we examine their habits of think- 
ing and speaking, and the actual deportment of 



men, we do not find any very general or gen- 
uine feeling of confidence in God and subjection 
to His supremacy. They form their own plans 
without reference to Him ; — they rely on their 
own wisdom, courage, strength ; — they talk of 
chance, of good, or of ill luck ; — they are cast 
down by unexpected trouble, as if it sprung 
from the ground ;— they form expedients of re- 
covery from disaster, and boast of their own 
resources ; — they sacrifice to their own net, they 
burn incense to their own drag; — they trust 
in man, and their hopes and fears depend upon 
an arm of flesh. 

■ : Now, all this is a striking proof of the alien- 
ation and apostacy of mankind from their nor- 
mal state of affectionate and confiding loyalty to 
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It is 
the essence of all genuine religion to exhibit 
this devout allegiance. And it is the design of 
His revelation, and of His plan of grace in 
the Gospel, — and of all the dispensations of His 
Providence, — to recover men from their apos- 
tacy, and restore them to His favor, in the prac- 
tice of faith and in the love of His authority. 
For this purpose, He speaks to them from 
Heaven, — sometimes in the voice of command, 
sometimes in promises, and sometimes in warn- 
ings ; sometimes in goodness and mercies, and 



5 

sometimes in displeasure and judgments. But, 
unhappily, we are too often heedless. "For 
God speaketh once, yea twice, but man per- 
ceiveth it not." (Job xxxiii. 14.) The re- 
peated intimations of His will, of His supre- 
macy, and of the designs of His Providence, 
are too often disregarded, and the lessons of 
His Divine Wisdom are wasted upon a proud 
and rebellious race. But happy is it for us, that 
He has thoughts of kindness ; that He has me- 
thods of " opening the ears of men and sealing 
their instruction, that he may withdraw man 
from his purpose, and hide pride from man ;" 
(Job xxxiii. ]6, 17,) that by chastening him 
with His hand, while he " keeps back his soul 
from the pit, and his life from perishing by the 
sword," He rebukes his haughty iniquity and 
makes him realize his insufficiency ; and that 
He has appointed His ministry and given power 
to His word, in order that there may be a 
messenger with man, an interpreter, one among 
a thousand, to show unto man the ways of up- 
rightness. (Job xxxiii. 18-24.) 

These methods of instruction God is pleased 
still to use. He expects us to observe what 
He is doing among the inhabitants of the earth, 
to convince us that the Most High ruleth in the 
affairs of men ; and happy are they, wliOj 



taught to recognize His hand, and led to con- 
fide in His goodness and power, return to Him 
humbly and penitently, and place themselves 
in hope and submission beneath the protection 
of His grace and majesty. Very instructive to 
us, and especially at this solemn and eventful 
crisis of our public affairs, when God has been 
pleased to remove by death the Chief Magis- 
trate of this nation, — the second instance of 
the kind in our history, — at a juncture when 
so much seemed to depend on his patriotism, 
his sagacity, his integrity, and his firmness; and 
while we deplore our bereavement of this illus- 
trious man, very instructive to us, I repeat, is 
the example and testimony of the wise and 
pious monarch of Israel, when he was menaced 
by circumstances, which not only threatened 
affliction to himself, but, in his relation to his 
people, threatened also to involve them in trou- 
bles, and excited the anxious solicitudes of his 
generous and patriotic soul. " God hath spo- 
ken once ; twice have I heard this, that power 
belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord, 
belongeth mercy ; for thou renderest to every 
man according to his work." 

These are the words of a king, of a war- 
rior, of a statesman ; they are the words of a 
man after God's own heart; they are the words 



of one inspired. They are worthy of our re- 
verent attention. 

He refers to the repeated instances in which 
God had not left himself without witness, as to 
His own dominion and character as the Su- 
preme Ruler and Judge of men and nations. 
The law and the prophets had borne their tes- 
timony of Him. Manifold instances of His 
providential agency and interposition were on 
record, to illustrate the principles of His govern- 
ment, as they were safely and certainly inter- 
preted by the light that His word reflected on 
His mighty acts. And David himself had re- 
ceived frequent communications of the mind 
and will of God ; while his own experience had 
taught him how truly dependent both he and 
Israel were, — not on that splendid prosperity, 
which was itself the gift of God ; not on his 
extended and populous empire ; not on his 
prowess and conquests ; not on the vast re- 
sources of a land fertile in productions, and 
enriched by the streams of wealth that poured 
into it from abroad ; not on the union of the 
tribes of Israel and their loyalty to him, for he 
had experience of dissension and revolt, and 
was at that moment harassed by, or had just 
escaped from, the dangers and perplexities ex- 
cited against him by his malignant foes; not 



on the defences thrown around him by the 
mere elements of personal and public happi- 
ness, which he well knew might be scattered 
at a breath ; but on God, the blessed and only 
Potentate, the Saviour of Israel, and the Help 
thereof, in time of trouble. Here was his con- 
fidence. He asserts it, (Ps. lxii. 1.) He 
charges himself to cherish it, (vs. 5.) He de- 
clares his safety under it, and felt that here he 
was impregnable, (vs. 2, 6, 7) : while he ex- 
postulates with his foes on their impotent malice 
and treacherous conduct, and denounces to them 
confusion and defeat, (vs. 3, 4.) He exhorts 
and encourages his friends and countrymen 
and all whose hearts are failing them for fear, 
to pour out their souls in prayer to God, and to 
share his confidence in the support of the 
Almighty Arm, (vs. 8.) He shows how vain are 
all inferior reliances. The populace are fickle 
and the princes are false, (vs. 9.) And all are 
warned of the utter insecurity of those plans 
of wealth and peace, which depend on the 
expedients of carnal policy, on violence and 
injustice, and the insecurity of all those hopes 
that depend on growing heaps of earthly trea- 
sure, (vs. 10.) His trust was in the power, the 
compassion and the faithfulness of God, (vs. 11, 
12.) 



The Divine strength is supreme and uni- 
versal. In Heaven and in Earth; over angels 
and over men ; from everlasting to everlasting, 
He is God. He will not give His glory to 
another. He will not abdicate His rights. He 
will not be frustrated in His purposes. Men 
may imagine devices and designs against Him 
and against His anointed, but they shall fail. 
They may break His bands in sunder and cast 
away His cords from them ; they may restrain 
prayer and despise fear ; they may say, " Who 
is the Almighty, that we should obey His 
voice V But shall they prevail by iniquity 1 
" He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the 
Lord shall hold them in derision. He shall 
speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them 
in His sore displeasure." Did the old world 
defy Him and prosper 1 Did Sodom mock, 
and did Pharaoh and Egypt rebel, and yet 
escape by impunity ? Did Moab resist and im- 
pede the march of Israel and call Balaam to curse 
them, and succeed ? Did the Assyrian and 
the Babylonian boast of their prowess, and 
break up God's covenant to give His people the 
land of Israel for an everlasting possession'? 
And were their triumphs and their boastings 
the heralds of permanent success in iniquity 
and pride, for a single moment longer than 



10 

either of them fulfilled the ignominious function 
for which God gave them their power and their 
victories, — as the mere executioners of His judg- 
ments, and the instruments by whom He cor- 
rected His chosen people 1 Yea, did Herod 
and Pilate, and Jew and Gentile, when they 
gathered themselves together to destroy the 
humble and afflicted Nazarene, prevail for the 
destruction they meditated, or do aught beyond 
their undesigned fulfilment of the determinate 
counsel and foreknowledge of God, concerning 
the death of the holy child Jesus ? Tyre and 
Egypt, Nineveh and Babylon, and all kings of 
the earth arrayed themselves against the do- 
minion and honor of God ; but He made their 
wrath to praise Him, and the remainder of 
their wrath, He restrained, and then destroyed 
them together. And all these things hath He 
done and said, in raising up nations and in 
overturning them, that Pharaoh and Nebu- 
chadnezzar, and all rulers and judges of the 
earth, and all that live may know and acknow- 
ledge that the Most High ruleth in the king- 
doms of men ; that they may cease from man 
whose breath is in his nostrils and his thoughts 
perish ; that they may learn not to put confi- 
dence in princes, but in the living God, who 
giveth us richly all things to enjoy. 



11 

Who is it that shall lift up the rod of pride and 
contemn God ? Hast thou an arm like God, 
and canst thou thunder with a voice like Him 1 
Who is it that walks in darkness, and whose 
heart trembles within him for the multitude of 
hisenemies, for the dangers that beset him, for 
the confusion of his affairs and the poverty of 
his resources, for the power of the adversary of 
souls, for the troubles that come upon the 
Church, and for those that threaten the land ? — 
let him remember Him that hath said, " No 
weapon that is formed against thee shall pros- 
per;" and let him make the Eternal God his 
refuge, and shelter himself within the circling 
protection of the Everlasting Arm. 

And we have reason for indulging this con- 
fidence in the Divine power. There is reason, 
indeed, in all our relations to Him, as the Judge 
of the quick and the dead, to fear Him who is 
the King of Nations, and to apprehend His 
indignation. All our own sins against His com- 
mandments, truth, and mercy, and all our public 
and social sins, might justly become the marks 
of His mighty vengeance. But, at the same 
time, He has revealed himself both in His 
Word and in His Providence, as a God of 
clemency and kindness : " Unto thee, O Lord, 
belonged! mercy; for thou renderest unto 



12 

every man according to his work." The union, 
in this ascription, of God's mercy and equity 
toward His creatures, and the assignation of 
one of these attributes as the ground for the 
exercise of the other, furnishes us with a clue to 
their interpretation as in mutual harmony. The 
Judge of all the earth does not bid mercy triumph 
over justice, as He does not give to justice its 
solitary exercise, untempered, or, rather, unac- 
companied by mercy. As sinners before Him, He 
might destroy us, without impeachment of His 
throne. But His Gospel teaches us that He so 
loved the world that He gave His only-begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might 
not perish, but have everlasting life. By this 
act, He becomes both a Just God and a Sa- 
viour. Even in pardoning the ungodly, He 
vindicates His holiness, and magnifies his law, 
and makes it honorable. And He is faithful also 
to them, who, trusting to His adorable compas- 
sion, turn to Him with repentance, study His 
will, aim at obedience, and look to His strength 
as their help and defence. As He is faithful 
and just to forgive them their sins, when they 
confess and forsake their sins, so is He faithful 
and just in the exercise of His clemency, in the 
expression of His good will and compas- 
sion, and in honoring, vindicating, and re- 



13 

warding their affectionate confidence in Him, 
and their actions which are in conformity with 
His Word, on which He has caused them to 
hope. Thus will He render unto them ac- 
cording to their works. He will treat them 
according to their real character. No man, in- 
deed, can plead that he has not sinned; that 
he has kept all the commandments ; and, 
therefore, that he has not incurred the just 
penalty of the Divine law. For deliverance 
from this penalty, and for a restoration to the 
favor of God, and to the hope of eternal life, 
we must he entirely and forever indebted to 
His mere mercy, for the sake of His Son 
Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us 
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
and redemption. But God is not unjust nor 
unfaithful to forget the works of faith, and 
labor of love, and patience of hope, manifest- 
ed by them who truly trust in Him through 
the cross of His dear Son. He will guide 
them with His counsel, and receive them to 
glory. He will comfort them in trouble. He 
will aid them in duty. He will defend them in 
danger. He will bring His power forward for 
their protection, and make them dwell securely 
under the shadow of His throne. His de- 
portment to them corresponds with their whole 



14 

character. Hence, if sinners would be saved 
they "must be born again." Hence, they must 
be reconciled to God, through faith in His 
dear Son. Hence it is, while He pours out 
his displeasure against the ungodly and the 
disobedient, He shows mercy to them that trust 
in Him and serve Him ; and He renders unto 
every man according to his works. The 
royal Psalmist, conscious of his integrity ; 
of his deep penitence for his sins ; of 
his reliance on the covenant which God 
had made with him by sacrifice ; of his 
love of the law of God ; of his intention to do 
right ; of his endeavor to rule in the fear of God, 
and to be a terror only to evil-doers, but a praise 
to them that do well ; might well plead before 
the Supreme Judge, when he was assailed by 
oppositions and reproached with calumnies, " 
keep my soul and deliver me ; let me not be 
ashamed, for I put my trust in thee ; let in- 
tegrity and uprightness preserve me, for I 
wait on thee." (Ps. xxv. 20, 21.) And all 
this appeal for defence against those who un- 
justly accused and persecuted him where he 
was innocent, is in the same breath in which 
he utters his affecting petition for mercy : " Re- 
member not the sins of my youth, nor my 
trangressions ; according to thy mercy, remem- 



15 

ber thou me, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord." 
" For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine 
iniquity, for it is great." (Ps. xxv. 7. 11.) 
" Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will 
He teach sinners in the way. All the paths of 
the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep 
his covenant and his testimonies." (Ps. xxv. 
8. 10.) This was the consistent judgment and 
hope of David. Thus he lived, thus he ruled, 
thus he died. And while we strenuously deny 
all claim to God's salvation on the part of any 
human being, high or low, on the ground of his 
own righteousness, we equally contend that 
the Divine clemency and equity are united for 
the safety and defence of them who trust in His 
mercy and follow His commands. Such de- 
fence have all His people. They are the apple of 
His eye. Whoso toucheth them, him will God 
punish. Even as a father pitieth his children, 
so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. Even 
as a father protects his children, so will the 
Lord throw His shield of protection before 
them that trust Him in the day of their danger. 
Such defence have communities — the Church — 
the nation. Let them trust truly in God. All 
things may seem to be against them; their 
strength may be weakened, their peace may 
be menaced, their prosperity assailed ; but 



16 

He sees them when they humble themselves 
before Him, when they honor His power, His 
love, and His truth; and He will be a glory in 
the midst of them, and a wall of fire round 
about them. 

It is in this light I would contemplate the 
last words which are reported to have been ut- 
tered by the late President. According to the 
first account, these were, " I have always done 
my duty ; I am ready to die." Or, according 
to another account, " I am prepared ; I have 
always endeavored to do my duty ;" as if this 
were the ground of his preparation to meet 
God. These have been subsequently modified 
by the report that, when he was informed by 
his physicians that he had not probably many 
hours to live, he replied, " I know it ;" then, 
after an interview with his family, being asked 
if he felt comfortable, he answered, " Very ; 
but the storm, in passing, has swept away the 
trunk." And finally, adverting to the subject of 
his previous musings, especially the Slavery 
question, he observed: "I am about to die ; I 
expect the summons soon ; I have endeavored 
to discharge all my official duties faithfully ; I 
may have erred, but it has been unintention- 
ally ; I regret nothing ; but am sorry that I am 
about to leave my friends." Previous to all 



17 

{{lis, he had enjoyed the counsels of a Chris- 
tian minister, and prayer was offered at his bed- 
side, in which he devoutly engaged. 

Now, as a man, and as a ruler, why might he 
not properly say, in the " integrity of his heart," 
(Gen. xx. 5,) "I have endeavored to do my 
duty; or, "my official duty?" Who doubts the 
honesty of his intentions? Even the voice of 
faction will not dispute it now. And as for me, 
I am not the judge of men's souls. It is God 
alone that tries the reins and searches the 
hearts. My good opinion will take no man to 
heaven ; my ill opinion will thrust no man into 
hell. Who can say what were the secret com- 
munings of his heart, — what his views of the 
plan of salvation, and what their influence upon 
his hope, in that last hour of his expectation of 
the judgment-seat ? Why may we not hope 
when we consider all that took place in that 
sick chamber, that they were Christian views 
and feelings ? 

While I would encourage no man to say, in 
view of the law of God and the judgment-seat 
of Christ, "lam prepared— I am not afraid — 
because I have always endeavored to do all my 
duty," — for there is another, and a better, and 
an exclusive foundation of our acceptance with 
God — nevertheless, I would even contend, that 
2 



18 

with an entire reliance on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, as the only foundation of a sinner's 
hope, a man might still justly say, in the con- 
sciousness of his humble trust in the mercy of 
God, manifested in a sincere endeavor to do His 
w i]l — a s every Christian man may say — to the 
praise of God's grace, and in repelling the ac- 
cusations of adversaries and the fears of con- 
science, " I have endeavored to fulfil my obliga- 
tions." The apostle did not disparage the plan 
of salvation, when, on his arraignment before 
the Council, he protested, " Men and brethren, 
I have lived in all good conscience before God 
unto this day," (Acts xxiii. 1) ; or when, at the 
end of his career, he exclaimed, "I have fought 
a good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have 
kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me 
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the 
righteous judge shall give me at that day ; and 
not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
his appearing." (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) Why, in our 
anxiety for the faith, should we disparage the 
works which are its inseparable fruits ? And 
besides all this, may it not rather have been the 
meaning of these fragmentary words — uttered, 
as we are informed, at the close of his musings, 
on the bereavement of his family, on the great 
and trying questions of public policy which had 



19 

cost him such anxiety, on the factious opposi- 
tions of party-spirit, and on the unjust censures 
which some were ready to record against him 
on the journals of Congress, — why may it not 
have been that, in the honest and assuring 
consciousness of his official and personal in- 
tegritVj he thus bequeathed his reputation to 
the judgment of his country, and that country 
itself, after he had done for it all he could, to 
the protection of Him to whom power belongeth, 
and mercy, and who will render unto all accord- 
ing to their works 1 

Such are some of the great truths, which 
God has spoken, once and again. These testi- 
monies of His word, have been reiterated and 
enforced upon our attention, by the voice of 
His Providence. That which we have heard 
of Him by the hearing of the ear, has been 
confirmed to us, when He stretched forth His 
hand, and He made us to see and feel that 
verily there is a God who judgeth in the 
Earth. 

Once and again, He hath spoken to us, in 
tones of rebuke and warning, by those afflic- 
tions and disasters, that have come upon us to 
teach us that we are dependent on God. Pes- 
tilence has gone before Him, and burning coals 



20 

have been cast from His footsteps. War, if it 
has not brought upon us intestine ravages, has 
at least, been at once our crime and punish- 
ment ; for it has brought discord and confusion 
into the midst of our public councils, and, at 
this moment we are quarrelling over our spoils 
and conquests, and our own ambition and ava- 
rice have returned to plague us. The flood 
has desolated ; and the conflagration has swept 
away our wealth with its fiery wing. On the 
same day, last week, while one was yet speak- 
ing, to tell us of the appalling destruction of 
property and life, in a neighboring city,* ano- 
ther messenger of evil tidings rushes in upon 
us to announce that the Nation itself has been 
stricken by the hand of Death falling upon the 
head of its Chief Magistrate. Others that have 
filled this high office have died, but they had 
fulfilled their official course. And all that have 
filled it will die, for they are but men. But 
within the last ten years, God has begun to take 
another season for the removal of our Rulers — 
even while they were yet in office. It is only 
within this period that the provision made by 
our Constitution for such a contingency has 
been tried. And although God has not re- 

* Philadelphia— between 300 and 400 houses destroyed. 



21 

moved from us our country's life, in removing 
from us those on whom we had been too much 
disposed to rely as the breath of our nostrils, 
yet these acts of His Providence are calculated 
to throw the people and their statesmen into 
perplexity, and to involve us in the fears that 
are engendered by the unexpected change of 
rulers and administrations. 

God hath spoken once, yea twice. The 
death of President Harrison, within one month 
after his inauguration, was a rebuke and a 
disaster, that ought to have been felt in the 
then crisis of our affairs, and should have taught 
us that power belongeth unto God. The death 
of President Taylor, in the second year of his 
administration, and at this far more alarming 
crisis of our public affairs, — when civil dis- 
sensions are raging, and civil war itself is 
menacing us, — is indeed a rebuke and a disas- 
ter. And shall we not perceive it 1 Shall 
it be recorded against us, that seeing many 
things we observe not? We are rebuked, be- 
cause we have forgotten God, and leaned upon 
an arm of flesh. At this moment, we are 
tossed upon the billow, between hope and fear. 
Does it not become us to look upward to Him 
who hath founded His throne above the Hea- 
vens and established His dominion to rule the 



oo 



floods. Power and strength belong unto God; 
to Him also belongeth mercy ; for He will 
render our portion in equity. 

From this event, we may learn a lesson 
of human frailty. The victorious commander, 
the illustrious citizen, the chief ruler of a mighty 
nation, at brief notice, vacates all his earthly 
dignities ; and from that tomb which was open- 
ed yesterday, in the national metropolis, there 
comes a voice of solemn warning that speaks 
to all the votaries of grandeur and all the sons 
of ambition. Ah ! what is its import 1 — 

" Hark, from the tombs, a doleful sound ! 

Mine ears attend the cry : — 
' Ye living men, come, view the ground, 
' Where you must shortly lie ! 

• Princes, this clay must be your bed, 

' In spite of all your towers ; 
' The tall, the wise, the reverend head, 
Must lie as low as ours.' " 

We may learn from it, how completely we 
are dependent on God. The modest and hu- 
mane, but skilful and valorous and successful 
leader of our armies ; the honest and sagacious 
and incorruptible patriot, whom we called to 
preside over the destinies of the nation; whose 
brief trial evinced his worthiness of all that con- 



23 

fidence we felt in him ; to whom we looked for 
wise and moderate counsels, and for the con- 
servation of our peace and concord, is suddenly 
snatched away from the hopes of his loving 
countrymen ; and they are downcast because 
they have lost the right arm of their strength. 

" God standeth in the congregation of the 
mighty; he judgeth among the rulers, .... I 
have said, ye are gods, and all of you are chil- 
dren of the Most High: but ye shall die like 
men, and fall like one of the princes." (Psalm 
lxxxii., 1, 6, 7.) " Lift not up your horn on high ; 
speak not with a stiff neck. For promo- 
tion cometh neither from the east, nor from the 
west, nor from the south : but God is the Judge ; 
he putteth down one, and setteth up another." 
(Psalm lxxv., 5 — 7.) 

We may learn from it a lesson of the wick- 
edness of partisan warfare and of the relentless 
malignity of faction. This man labored, and 
lived, and died for his country alone. But he 
was pressed to death. What a shame to this 
land, and especially what an infamy to those 
who gave occasion for it, was the pathetic com- 
plaint of this brave, strong man, to his physician, 
but a few hours before his decease: "I should 
not be surprised, if this were to terminate in my 
death. I did not expect to encounter what 



24 

has beset me since my elevation to the Presi- 
dency. God knows that I have endeavored to 
fulfil what I conceived to be an honest duty. 
But I have been mistaken. My motives have 
been misconstrued, and my feelings most grossly 
outraged." Oh! well, were it for our country, 
if, listening to the voice of rebuke, from the lips 
of this dying man, and especially from that Su- 
preme Arbiter of nations and of men, in chas- 
tening us by this great loss, we should learn to 
lay aside that bitter animosity, that relentless 
malignity, that maliciousness of calumny, and 
vile detraction, which has not spared our 
purest patriots, pursues them to death, and in- 
volves the land in all the disgrace and danger 
that spring from the virulent feuds and selfish 
conflicts of faction. Unmeasured vituperation 
of the living is ill atoned by posthumous retrac- 
tion, and sentimental eulogy of the dead ! 

We may learn, again, a lesson of humility, 
penitence, and trust in God. We have many 
public and personal sins, for which God enga- 
ges in controversy against us. But His Provi- 
dence calls us to repentance and hope in Him, 
as our Supreme Deliverer and Ruler. He has 
not visited us according to our iniquities. 
There have been dangers before now, and 



25 

times that tried men's souls. But he has over- 
ruled our fears, and brought us out of trouble 
into a wealthy place. We may look to Him, — 
but only to Him, — to do it again. He removes 
our princes and perplexes the nation. But He 
Himself is on the throne. Our reliance is on 
His mercy and equity. The nation and king- 
dom that will not serve Him, shall utterly 
perish. But if we are led by His Providence 
and grace to lay aside our base and selfish and 
sectional aims, and to allay our wretched con- 
troversies ; if our public men and our people 
cherish a lofty patriotism, trust in God, look to 
Him for counsel, and follow His word, in our 
national policy and in our personal conduct, 
then may we hope for our best prosperity. 
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a 
reproach to any people. 

In the view of all these circumstances, it be- 
comes us to offer prayer unto God for those 
that are in authority over us, that we may lead 
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and 
honesty. It is He by whom kings reign and 
princes decree justice. He only is able to make 
our rulers faithful. It is He alone, who can watch 
over the heart and counsels of the eminent 
citizen who has already succeeded to the func- 



26 

tions, the temptations, the labors, and the re- 
sponsibilities of the Presidency. And with 
what force of pathos, comes to us, as well as 
to our Senators and Legislators, the modest but 
manly appeal, with which the new President 
closes his announcement to Congress, of the 
death of his illustrious predecessor : 

" To you, Senators and Representatives of a 
nation in tears, I can say nothing which can 
alleviate the sorrow with which you are op- 
pressed. I appeal to you to aid me under the 
trying circumstances which surround me in the 
discharge of the duties, from which, however 
much I may be oppressed by them, I have not 
shrunk. I rely on Him who holds in His hands 
the destinies of nations, to endow me with the 
requisite strength for the task, and to avert from 
our country, the evils apprehended from the 
heavy calamity which has befallen us." 

May this prayer be lifted up by all our country- 
men, with holy hands, without wrath and doubt- 
ing. And may it be answered from Heaven, 
by that God of Sabaoth, whose ear is not heavy 
that it cannot hear, nor His arm shortened that 
it cannot save. 

Now, unto the King, Eternal, Immortal, In- 
visible, the only wise God, our Saviour ; Who is 



27 

able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that 
we ask or think, according to the poiver that 
worketh in us ; Unto Him, be glory and majes- 
ty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
Amen. (1 Timothy, i. 17; Ephesians, iii. 20; 
Jude 25.) 



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